Pittsburgh Paper Cans Political Cartoonist Critical of Trump Administration
Celebrated Political Cartoonist Rob Rogers says he was fired from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette after 25 years of service.
The award-winning editorial cartoonist claims he was given a pink slip after months of clashes with the paper's new leadership.
Sad to report this update: Today, after 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired.
— Rob Rogers (@Rob_Rogers) June 14, 2018
According to The Washington Post, Rogers says the Pennsylvania paper refused to run 19 of his cartoons.
Since March of this year "not a single one of his cartoons was deemed worthy of publishing in the Post-Gazette," he told the Post.
When asked why he thinks this happened, Rogers told the paper, "While most of the killed cartoons or ideas were directly critical of President Trump, there were also some dealing with the NFL kneeling policy, issues of racism and the FBI."
Rogers received support from his colleagues at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
The group sided with Rogers in saying they felt his firing was due to a new wave of conservative thinkers on the paper.
The AAEC board said in a statement "It doesn't take much to connect the dots between the absence of Rob's left-leaning cartoons and the recent arrival of a Trump-supporting editorial page editor."
Fans of Roger's work took to Twitter to release their frustrations with some calling Roger's firing a gift for the President's birthday.
#RobRogers is fired on the birthday of #DonaldTrump. A gift by #PittsburghPostGazette publisher JR Block to his vermillionaire hero? A coincidence? I don’t think so.
— Steve Brodner (@stevebrodner) June 15, 2018
Even the mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto weighed in on Roger's firing calling it "disappointing" adding it "sends the wrong message about press freedoms in a time when they are under siege."
Peduto who says he has often been the butt of Roger's jokes tweeted:
To any politician who can’t stand the heat - get out of the kitchen. Anyone, any politician, who endorses the firing of @Rob_Rogers does not deserve to serve the public or comment on the requirements of a free society. https://t.co/7SZhOLOtGS
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) June 15, 2018
Rogers who was once a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his "edgy and controversial cartoons"– tells the Post he loves "to make people laugh" and just wants to get back to work.
